


Get well soon

by madveta



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Acceptance, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brief swearing, Coming Out, F/F, Family Bonding, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Lesbian Lin, Self-Acceptance, family support, ikki’s self discovery journey, lesbian ikki, lesbian kya, the first chapter is sad but it gets better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:22:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28141572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madveta/pseuds/madveta
Summary: Ikki has some issues coming to terms with her sexuality because of some trauma, luckily she has the coolest hippie lesbian aunt (+her cranky wife) to help her on the journey of self-love and acceptance.
Relationships: Background Korra/Asami Sato, Lin Beifong/Kya II
Comments: 38
Kudos: 265





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at three am because of insomnia and English isn’t my native language, so I apologize for any potential mistake !  
> Hope you enjoy :)

The first time she felt it, she must have been around 6.

It was the pretty lady who ran the fruit stand at Wednesday’s market, the one she went to every week with her mother. She had long black hair, so long that, even neatly braided down her back as it was, it reached the middle of her thigh. She was always smiling at her, and always made sure to add one extra papaya after Ikki once told her it was her favorite. There was even this one time where she helped her fix her bun while her mother was busy trying to get Meelo in check.

Once her training started taking up more of her time, she had to stop going to Wednesday’s market with her mom, and often found herself missing the kind eyes and bright smile of the pretty lady from the fruit stand.

The second time was when Korra’s friends first arrived at the island. She was 8 then. She still remembers the feeling of utter admiration when she saw her get off that boat. Her hair was so shiny, and her eyes were the most beautiful shade of green she’d ever seen in her short life. She remembers how she felt when her brother started flirting with Asami. While she obviously knew he did not stand a chance, the feeling of nausea it gave her was one of the worst things she’d experienced back then.  
Of course, at the time she couldn’t place it.

 _Oh, how I wish I looked like her_. She thought at the time. What a fool she had been.

But the last time it happened, the one that left her heartbroken for nearly the entire year that followed, was 3 years ago. She was twelve. _How she wishes she had never met her_.  
It was Ayame, a girl from the fire nation, who happened to get airbending.  
She was from a rather noble family, and was forbidden by her parents to come to air temple island and get formal training for nearly four years after discovering her abilities.  
But after insisting for such a long time, her parents ended up agreeing on her going, but only during vacations. Which was why Ikki didn’t really pay attention to her the first two times she came : she noticed a new girl, one that was around her age. The girl only stayed for two weeks both times, and Ikki quickly forgot about her.

But then came summer. And this time around, Ayame was going to stay for two entire months.  
She approached Ikki the day she arrived, asking to be her friend, saying she thought she was a very talented airbender, and that she wished to learn from her. Ikki remembers blushing at the compliment. _Like an idiot_. Of course she agreed. She wasn’t going to refuse such a request from a girl that seemed to be so kind.  
So they started to hang out together. Every day. They were inseparable.  
They would sneak out at night to go to the bisons stables.  
They would steal food from the kitchen and have impromptu picnics on the rocky shores, the ones on the other side of the island, where nobody ever went.

Ikki even got into trouble quite a few times with her parents because of Ayame. But the girl was always nowhere to be seen once someone caught them during one of their shenanigans.

It was during one particularly hot night in the mid-August, after having celebrated Ikki’s 13th birthday, that Ayame kissed her for the first time.  
They had been sitting next to each other, looking up at the stars with their pants rolled up to their knees, lazily kicking the waves with their feet. Without any warning, she had put a hand in her hair and kissed her. Right on the lips.

Ikki still remembers the panic that threatened to overwhelm her at that moment.  
_Do I like her like that ?_  
_Yes, I do like her like that. I most certainly do_.  
And so she kissed her back.  
And they kissed, as awkwardly as you can imagine for two thirteen years old, every night on the shores until Ayame had to go back to the fire nation.

She probably should have known something was wrong when the girl insisted Ikki didn’t call her her girlfriend. The day her parents came to bring her back home, she seemed overjoyed to be leaving, meanwhile Ikki’s heart was shattering.

‘Oh, don’t look so gloomy !’ She’d told her ‘we’ll see each other again in two months !’

And then she’d left, with nothing but a wink and a friendly punch on the shoulder.

Ikki cried herself to sleep that night.  
When Jinora asked her what was wrong the next day, she’d blamed it on nightmares.

And when Ayame didn’t show up on the day she was supposed to come back two months later, she felt herself spiral back into the state she was in when she left.  
But then the letter came.

Her mother had knocked softly on her bedroom door, thinking that her daughter was sick, as she herself had affirmed that morning.

‘I think I have something that might make you feel a little better !’ She’d said in a cheerful tone.  
‘You friend, Ayame, sent a letter, and it is specifically addressed to you !’

Ikki had never got up so fast in her life.  
After quickly thanking her mother for bringing her the letter, she’d ran to the rocky shores on the other side of the island.  
_Their spot_.

What she read in that letter was what started her spiral into a depression that nobody saw coming, and certainly not Ikki herself.  
_I didn’t think I’d let her get to me so bad_.

“ _Dear Ikki,_  
_I’m sorry for not writing to you earlier, it has been a pretty busy two months for me, as I’ve started going to school again. I’ve made so many new friends, and they’re all so awesome !_  
_But the most important is : I got a boyfriend !_  
_He is so handsome and…”_

That’s when Ikki blacked out for a second. Or hour. She’d totally lost track of time in that very moment, she must admit. She remembers holding the letter so tightly that it started shredding, and only the sight of her own tears on the scroll took her back to the present.  
She forced herself to finish reading.  
_I need to know_. She kept telling herself.

“ _He is so handsome and kind, and he always gives me flowers when we go on walks together_.”

 _That should be me. That was me_.

“ _I just wanted to thank you for helping me train at kissing ! You have no idea how stressful it is to think you’re going to mess up when kissing someone you like ! So thank you for that._  
_Anyway, enough of this._  
_The actual reason behind this letter is because I need to tell you something that might upset you._  
_I’m not coming to the island this vacation, and I don’t think I’m planning on ever coming back. I got the basics in airbending down during the summer, but I don’t feel any actual interest towards the culture in general, and I don’t think I actually want to learn more than what I already know._  
_And on top of that, I told some of my friends that you and I kissed, and they insisted that two girls kissing is gross and unnatural, which I didn’t know. I really hope this didn’t mean too much to you, I don’t want you to suffer, but if it did, maybe you should consider seeing someone to fix that issue. At least that’s what my friend Aiya says you should do (she is so awesome, you would love her)._  
_So, I am really sorry I had to tell you all of this through a letter, and I really hope that we will be able to see each other again one day. You know, make sure I don’t forget the basics in airbending !_

_Anyway, I hope everything is good for you, and I hope it will keep being that way !_

_Best wishes,_  
_Ayame”_

Everything after that is pretty much a blur.  
She knows she screamed.  
She knows she cried and threw the letter into the ocean.  
She knows she fell asleep there in the cold, and was woken up in the morning by one of the air acolytes.  
She knows she was freezing but couldn’t bring herself to care.

But the entire year that followed, the fucked up sleep schedules and eating habits, the panic attacks every time she stood on the rocky shores, and the feeling of her own nails scratching blood into her thigh, all of that passed in a blur, and Ikki often likes to tell herself that it was all a dream, even if her family hasn’t stopped being worried about her ever since.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright so I decided this is going to be three chapters long after all  
> also, it was korrasami’s anniversary yesterday so of course I had to mention them getting married in this one :)  
> enjoy

At now 15, she finds herself sitting on the rocky shores once again, and she feels stupid.

Not because of what she put herself and her family through, she had to get over this guilt a long time ago in order to get better.

No, she feels stupid because she is crying.

She feels stupid because she’s hiding.

She feels stupid because she escaped from a ceremony, and what must have been the happiest event she has attended in a long time.

She feels stupid because everyone is overjoyed today, and they should be.

But mainly she feels stupid because she just watched Korra and Asami get married, publicly declaring their love for each other, and she still can’t bring herself to accept what is the undeniable truth.

‘Why is it so much harder to accept myself than it is to accept them?’

Because Ikki truly does accept Korra and Asami. And in some part of her heart, deep down, she is delighted for them. They are perfect for each other, and she never saw anything wrong with their love.

If she is honest with herself, Ikki knows her attraction to women isn’t the issue. It’s her, she’s the problem.  
She doesn’t consider herself normal, doesn’t consider anything she feels to be valid.

Even after hitting rock bottom, and still somehow getting back on her feet, her image of herself remains broken. Something isn’t right with her. She doesn’t like the girl she sees when she looks in the mirror.

She feels so ridiculous thinking about her own issues on this day that she lets out a bitter chuckle through silent tears.  
She feels horrible, feels like she’s making everything about her when this is supposed to be her friends big day.  
Like the day she had a panic attack on Jinora’s birthday.  
Like the day her sibling spent hours making her favorite dish but she didn’t eat it, because her brain told her she did nothing to deserve to eat. They said they understood, but she saw the tear rolling down Rohan’s left cheek.  
She is the worst sister, the worst daughter, the worst friend. She just can’t seem to be good at anything.

That’s why she went as far as possible from where the party was held. She didn’t want anybody to worry about her. They deserved this opportunity to just be carefree, if only for a day.

She let out a shaky sigh, wondering when she would feel ready to go back to the party, then brought her knees to her chest and buried her face in them.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her, and she froze.

“Ikki, sweetheart, there you are !” She recognized aunt Kya’s voice. “We saw you get out a while ago and I thought you were just going to the bathroom but you didn’t come back so I got worried you know ! So I dragged this one here for a little search party and she…”

Her aunt’s ramble cut short when Ikki finally raised her head and looked at the two people.

She saw that the second person was Chief Beifong, and that her aunt was holding tightly onto her arm, and she briefly wondered why before realizing she had more important things to worry about in that moment.

She watched her aunt’s face drop at her red and puffy eyes, and saw the Chief’s expression change from annoyed to highly uncomfortable, although she thinks she did see a flash of worry go over her features. Maybe she imagined it.

“Oh, honey, what is it ? Are you okay ? What happened ? Are you hurt ? Was someone mean to you ?”

“Kya, dear, maybe if you gave her enough time to answer you…”

Dear ? She’ll have to ask her aunt about that.

“You’re right, you’re right… Ikki, honey, may I sit next to you ?”

She didn’t have the strength to answer. She felt so vulnerable in that moment that she felt fresh tears building up in her eyes and quickly turned back around, trying to fight them down.

“Okay, something is definitely wrong. I’m sitting there and I better not hear any complaints.”

She heard her aunt drop next to her, and at the corner of her eyes saw Beifong sitting on a rock, probably close enough to hear them, but far enough as to not make Ikki feel overwhelmed by being heard by someone she was unfamiliar with. She appreciated the gesture, and suspected the Chief knew a thing or two about not having her boundaries respected. That would have to be a topic for another day.

“So, wanna tell me about it ?”

“I…”

She felt the anxiety building immediately.  
She gritted her teeth.  
She tried to ground herself by burying her nails in the palm of her hands.  
She hadn’t even realized her breathing had quickened until she felt her aunt put one hand on her back, and the other on her chest. She applied a slight pressure, soft enough that it didn’t hurt, hard enough that it helped slowly bring her back to the moment.

“Hey, hey, honey, I’m here. It’s just me. You’re safe, nothing to worry about. We’re here, we’re protecting you. You’re safe.”

Her breathing slowed, and she was grateful her aunt reacted so quickly that she didn’t go into a full panic attack.

She couldn’t hold back the sob as she buried herself in aunt Kya’s arms.

She doesn’t know how long she sobbed until she decided to pull back and ask :

“Could you... freshen me up, please ?”

She watched her aunt smirk as she waterbended some water from the waves underneath them, took the salt out of it before delicately applying it on her face.  
She closed her eyes, and if the water started glowing slightly in an attempt to heal her bruised mind, she pretended she didn’t see it.

“I’m so sorry.”

She opened her eyes in shock. The words had come from aunt Kya’s mouth.  
And her eyes were moist.

“What ? What are you talking about ? I just cried in your arms, I’m the one who should be sorry !”

A tear rolled down her tan cheek.

Ikki heard movement behind her, and suddenly Chief Beifong was crouching next to her aunt, brows crunched up in concern, softly taking her hand in a gesture softer than anything Ikki had ever seen from her.

“Kya..”

“I’m okay, I’m okay… I just feel… guilty.”

At this point, the other two were more than a little confused.

“Your dad told me, you know. That you went through.. a rough patch. He thought that maybe I could try to help you, but at the time I was still in the South Pole and there was this virus going around… I couldn’t leave your grandmother to take care of that all by herself. I didn’t see the months fly by, and when I finally decided to get my ass back to Republic City, Tenzin told me that you were doing much better. I didn’t think you still struggled that much. You should’ve told me about it, I could have helped… I still can, if you want me to.”

Ikki was so surprised by her aunt’s revelation that she didn’t react for what seemed like ages.

“I… I’m not good at this. Asking for help, letting people help, these kinds of stuff… I don’t know how to.”

She saw her aunt smiling softly before casting a glance to the Chief still holding onto her hand.

“Trust me kiddo, I have experience with making people accept my help. Spill it.”

Ikki’s eyes went between the two women.

“You do know that once I’m done you will absolutely have to tell me about what’s going on here. I mean, good for you guys, but I still want an explanation.”

“Well, if miss police Chief over here agrees, I don’t see why not.”

“Meh, whatever.” Grumbled said police Chief.

“Okay, back to you now. Whenever you feel ready.”

Ikki took a few breaths to calm herself down.  
And then she started.

“So, a few years ago, I met this girl. She was an airbender from the fire nation, came from a noble family who only allowed her to spend vacations here.”

The two women in front of her exchanged a look saying they knew exactly where this was going, but chose to let her finish before saying anything.

Ikki chuckled darkly as she recalled the events of that summer.  
She watched her aunt cringe slightly at her mention of Ayame getting her into trouble multiple times, and started getting seriously irritated when she talked about how she actually felt quite uncomfortable when they made out, but didn’t dare say anything because she was so in love with the girl at the time.

Ikki saw Chief Beifong regularly apply pressure to the hand she was holding in order to try and delay Kya’s inevitable outburst.  
She was doing a pretty good job at doing so until Kya ripped her hand from her grip to throw both in the air.

“She left without showing that she was affected in any kind of way after she purposely made you catch feelings ? This is so infuriating, how can she be like that at such a young age ! I mean, I’ve encountered my fair share of awfully manipulative and emotionally abusive women, but never at such a young age, for spirits sake !”

“Maybe let her finish, love.”

“Sorry, sorry, go on..”

After seeing how her aunt reacted so far, she was hesitant to tell her the rest of the story.

She had expected to witness the biggest anger outburst after telling the two of them about the letter, and how it was the beginning of her depression, anxiety and eating disorders. She expected her aunt to yell profanities after watching Ikki look away to let the tears fall from her eyes.

But there was nothing.

They were completely silent.

After a while, Ikki decided to face their gaze.

Her aunt was openly crying, her hand over mouth, an expression of pure hurt on her face that made Ikki feel a pang in her heart at the sight of it.

But what surprised her was the Chief’s face.  
She arbored a look of such compassion that it made the tears flow again on Ikki’s face.

Then she did something that not even her girlfriend sitting next to her expected.

She took Ikki’s hand in her own, squeezing it hard. Then, she took a strand of hair that had escaped from her hairdo and pushed it back behind her ear.

“I understand, kid. Trust me, I do. It’s a long way to self-love and acceptance, and I must admit I haven’t totally gotten there yet. But I certainly don’t want you to go through as many years of self loath as I did, you’re too good a kid for that. So I’ll just tell you what I wish somebody would’ve told me when I was your age : there’s nothing wrong with you, your feelings are valid, and nobody should tell you otherwise. You’ll turn out fine, and you’ll have a great life. Don’t push down your feelings, you might miss so many amazing opportunities… I’m not really good at this, but I guess what I’m trying to say is : you’ll be okay, this doesn’t define who you are or who you’ll become, and it isn’t necessarily as terrifying as you might see it right now.”

Ikki was speechless. That was the last thing she had expected to hear from Chief Beifong.

She was shaken to her core. The tears came again, and the sob she let out was so broken that she couldn’t help having pity on herself. 

She cried her doubts and fears out. She cried her relief and gratefulness.

She knows her aunt started bawling too.

She knows the Chief pulled both of them to her chest and let them cry it out.

They stayed like this for what seemed to be an eternity, until wrenched sobs turned into quiet tears and sniffles every now and then.

The body they were laying onto shifted uncomfortably.

“Uh.. I think it’s best I leave the two of you to have a talk…”

Ikki understood. She wasn’t used to these types of situations, and the last thing she wanted was for the Chief to feel uncomfortable, not after she said such kind words to her.

So, she pulled away from the hug, wiped at her eyes, and squeezed her hand one last time.

“I don’t know how to tell you how grateful I am for what you said.”

“You don’t need to kid. Take care.” 

Then, she turned to her girlfriend, who was still holding onto her.

Ikki watched as they put their foreheads together.

“You’ll be alright ?”

“You know I will. You ?”

“Of course.”

And then they exchanged the softest and purest kiss Ikki had ever witnessed. She felt like crying all over again, but she didn’t think she had any tears left.

The Chief left, leaving Ikki next to a Kya that kept sniffling and wiping at her eyes for a while before putting an arm around her niece’s shoulders.

“Alright, sweetie, it’s just you and I now. Spill everything that goes through your mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t even know if this is good but meh  
> So the big Ikki and Kya conversation is next chapter, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post it as this week is Christmas week :/  
> Anyway, I was thinking about doing a small series of one shots about some things that happened during the year where Ikki was depressed, but I don’t know if anyone would be interested in that ? So let me know if you would :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally have the time to upload the final chapter  
> I hope everyone spent great holidays, whatever you celebrate, and I wish you the best for the year to come !  
> The long awaited one on one convo between our baby lesbian and her fav lesbian aunt,hope it doesn't disappoint :)

Ikki didn’t know where to start. She could feel her aunt looking at her expectantly. She took a deep breath.

“Aunt Kya… can I ask you something ?”

“Of course, you can ask me anything, I’ll try my best to answer any question you may have.”

“Did you… have a hard time accepting it ? Your sexuality I mean. Because it’s driving me crazy. I have no issue with it when it’s not about me. I don’t have any issue with you or the Chief, neither do I have one with Korra and Asami. But I still can’t find it in me to accept myself for who I am.”

Kya started playing with the water below them, waterbending it in all kinds of different animal shapes, just like she used to to make Ikki laugh back when she was still a small kid. 

A part of her longed to see this joyful little girl again. It hurt her too much to watch her suffer and struggle the way she herself had when she was around her age.

She sighed and reached to caress her niece’s cheek.

“We always are way harder on ourselves than we are towards others, uh ? To be honest with you, I did struggle, a lot actually. I realize that now that I’m older, at the time I had just grown accustomed to self-hatred, and I was sure it was just part of who I am.”

Ikki looked at her aunt with hope in her eyes. It was a nice change from the tears that filled them just a few minutes ago.

“So it goes away at some point ? I won’t always be like this ?”

Kya felt like crying again. She saw so much of her teenage self in her niece at that moment.

If only I could just take this pain off her shoulders and take it for myself.

Unless she found a miraculous way to do that, she would do anything in her power to bring her even the slightest relief. 

“I can’t promise it will be quick, or easy, but you have to believe me when I tell you that we’re all here for you. We all love you and we will always support you no matter what. Do your parents know ?”

Ikki started chewing nervously on her lower lip.

“I don’t think so, although I’m pretty sure they suspect something. But…”

Her aunt was listening to her intently, and encouraged her to continue with a nod of her head.

“I’m not sure I want them to know. Not for now. I’d like to figure it out by myself before talking to them about it. I mean, we’re airbenders so I obviously know they’d accept me, that’s the way we’re raised, but still…”

“It’s hard when the rest of the world keeps telling you that something is wrong with you, even with a supportive family. You start to wonder who is in the wrong. Believe me, I know, I’ve been through it.”

pan>Ikki hummed in agreement and they stayed silent for a few moments.

“Also, I’m pretty sure mom and Jinora would hunt Ayame down if I told them exactly what happened, and I’d rather not have them go to jail.”

Kya bursted out laughing.

“And you know what, I’d definitely help them.”

Ikki actually chuckled at that, and that alone was more than what Kya could’ve hoped for.

“You know, your grandmother actually did that once.” 

“What ?? Gran-gran ?” 

“Herself. I must have been around twenty, and we were on our yearly family vacation, and by family I mean literally everyone was there. So we were on the beach, and I was just sitting with Izumi talking about, well, girls. In a pretty   
_  
descriptive   
_  
way I’d say. Anyway, a girl overheard us and yelled a homophobic insult at me. And before even I had any time to react, your grandmother hit her with water so hard that she went flying back a couple meters. She broke her nose and a few ribs. The police came, but it’s pretty hard to just arrest a war hero surrounded by her husband, the avatar, and all of her friends who also happen to be war heroes. Especially when them and all of their kids keep insisting that they saw nothing of the incident. None of them ever mentioned it again, but it’s still one of the moments in my life where I felt the most loved.”

Ikki watched her aunt with awe. She found this story to be hilarious and endearing all at once.

“Wow. I didn’t know gran-gran was such a badass.”

“Of course she is ! As I just said, this woman is a war hero. She earned the title.”

After that, neither of them said anything for a while, both preoccupied by their own thoughts.

Ikki realized that talking to her aunt (or aunts : even if she highly doubted the Chief would appreciate the title coming from her, it was too late to go back) had actually helped her in some way. She had never confided in anyone like that, and so the thought that keeping all of this pain to herself might be weighing down on her had never crossed her mind.

“How did you get over the hard part eventually ?”

Kya looked startled to be ripped from her thoughts so suddenly, but quickly recovered and smiled softly, a nostalgic expression on her features as she looked over the calm sea.

“The wrong way actually. I first tried to cope by smoking a lot of lilyweed -which you absolutely shouldn’t do young lady !- and then by sleeping around with a lot of women I definitely shouldn’t have gotten involved with. Everything started getting worse, and whilst I had used these ways to try and help me get better, it did everything but. My worst years were between the age of sixteen and nineteen. I did so many things during these years that I wish I hadn’t. I especially wish I hadn’t hurt my family in the process. But what is done is done, it’s better not to dwell on the past too much.”

Ikki’s entire attention was on her aunt. They had always been close, but it felt great to finally learn more intimate things about her, things that she would’ve never told her a few years ago. She did not want to miss anything, but couldn’t stop herself from asking :

“Are there really healthy ways to cope ? I’ve been trying to find anything, other than not eating and harming myself, for the past three years, but I’ve yet to find anything that brings me relief that doesn’t involve at least one of the two.”

Ikki saw her aunt cringe when she mentioned that she had hurt herself in the past, and, not for the first time, started to feel the guilt of making her loved ones carry such a burden threaten to overwhelm her. Aunt Kya must have felt her tense beside her because she reached out for her hand and squeezed, hard.

“Hey, it’s alright, I’m here to help you. No guilt or shame allowed. And while I never physically harmed myself, we can’t say my coping mechanisms were healthy, so I really can’t talk.”

And so Ikki tried to push away the crippling guilt, at least for now.

“You’re probably not going to like that, but I only started to truly get better once I reached out to the people that cared about me for help. Step by step. First it was Izumi, but while she was a great help, she lived far away, and I needed someone to kind of keep me in check so I didn’t slip. I know, that sounds like getting babied, but trust me, there’s no shame in relying on people that love you. So then it was Aunt Suki and Uncle Sokka” a wave of sadness and nostalgia passed over her features when she said their names “and they were the adult figures of authority and grounding that I would’ve never admitted I still needed. You see, I completely pushed my parents away in my late teenage years, thinking that things would right themselves if I started being more independent, and I was too stubborn to see that I still desperately needed their love and support. Aunt Suki and Uncle Sokka helped me find my way home to my family again. Then I told Bumi and your dad. We may have had our fair share of disagreements, but they were nothing but supportive to me. And finally my parents. I started improving slowly for the year and a half that followed, until I fell in love with a girl that was in love with another and decided to run away in the middle of the night leaving behind only a note where I promised to visit, but that’s a story for another day.

My point is, I’m not forcing you to tell your family, but having a family that loves and accepts you for who you are is such a rare occurrence in this world that my advice to you would be to embrace it.”

Ikki slowly took in her aunt’s words. That was a lot to take in all at once, but she made sure to write everything down in a corner of her mind, and maybe one day, hopefully a day not too far in the future, she would feel ready to use the advice.

Then, she launched herself in her aunt’s arms.

“Ouch, careful there kid, you know I’m an old lady.”

“Thank you aunt Kya. Thank you so much. You have no idea how grateful I am. I hadn’t realized how much I needed someone to help guide me until now. I feel so relieved.”

Kya, teary eyed at that point, smiled brightly while squeezing her niece a little tighter, a desperate attempt to protect her from what this world would undeniably throw at her just because of who she loved.

“You’re very welcome. And remember, there’s nothing wrong with you, you’re not alone and I’m always there if you need to talk.”

They stayed in each other’s arms for a few minutes before finally pulling away and realize that the sun was starting to set.

“Do you think you’re ready to go back to the party ? It’s okay if you want to be alone for the rest of the evening.”

“No, it’s fine. I want to go back. Wouldn’t want to miss out on the entirety of Korra and Asami’s big day.”

They got up, not without difficulty as they’d been sitting on rocks for a while now, and stretched before starting to head back towards the venue.

“Aunt Kya, can I ask you one more question ?” 

Her aunt hummed in agreement while absentmindedly picking up flowers.

“Who was she ?”

“Who was who ?”

“The girl you fell in love with.”

At that she actually looked up from her small bouquet.

“Oh. It was Lin. Funny how things are, uh ?”

Ikki’s surprise must’ve shown on her face because her aunt started laughing and asked :

“What ? Who did you expect it to be ?”

“Honestly ? Izumi.”

Kya started laughing even harder.

“I can see why you would come to that conclusion, especially considering that Izumi and I did have a fling, there was just no real romantic feelings involved there.”

Ikki still didn’t look completely satisfied. After seeing her aunt give her a look that clearly said “spill it”, she managed to ask :

“You fell in love with Chief Beifong while she was dating dad ?”

“Before they started dating, actually. But it’s not like it matters anymore. I’m the one who married her in the end, aren’t I ?”

Ikki widened her eyes so hard that she thought they might actually pop out her head.

“You mean you two are   
_  
married   
_  
? I thought you were just dating, why weren’t we invited ?”

Kya chuckled once again upon seeing the pout on her niece’s face.

“Nobody was. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about it, just not now. Nobody knows except you. And probably Aunt Toph. This woman knows everything.”

The promise of her aunt telling her about a secret nobody else knew about was enough to bring a smile back onto the girl’s face.

Nobody seemed to notice them as they quietly slipped back into the party, everyone’s eyes solely focused on the brides who were swaying softly on the dancefloor. That sight alone made Ikki forget about everything else for a split second.

The only one who noticed them, and probably the one who had been on the lookout for their arrival, was Chief Beifong, glass in hand, whose face washed over with relief before she rushed to their side.

“Thank the spirits you’re here, I tried to make up an excuse for your absence but Tenzin wouldn’t drop it. I really thought he was about to send out a search party !” 

Kya quickly squeezed her hand and put a soft kiss on her wife’s cheek.

“Thanks for covering for us honey, you’re the best woman a lady could ask for.”

Ikki watched in amusement upon seeing the Chief stumble on her words with slightly reddened cheeks.

She turned around and spotted her siblings waving her over.

She started making her way towards them, but not before rushing to hug her aunt one last time.

“Thank you again, Aunt Kya. For everything. And of course, you too…”

And, without being able to help herself, she added with a smirk :

“Aunt Lin.”

She rushed away laughing, but not before seeing the Chief spit her drink out while her aunt doubled over in laughter.

  
Her chest was filled with warmth.  _ I’ll be okay. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there it is ! I hope it wasn't too bad even if I probably made some language mistakes  
> Again, very self indulging chapter. Basically a conversation between me now and baby 12yo lesbian me  
> As this is the first work I publish, I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a comment and give me some feedback on it :)  
> I will write other tlok/atla works in the near future (most likely a lot of kyalin hehe)

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first fic I post on here, and it is 100% self indulging as most of it is based on personal experience.  
> It will probably only be two chapters long, but I’ll definitely write more of Ikki, because she is so underrated and I love her :)


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